I will also say I haven't seen the whole piece. The irony being that while it was airing, I was decompressing from the effects of a 12 hour day spent trying to keep up with a flood of your prescriptions. My comments here are based on a couple video clips someone was kind enough to send in:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2992803
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2994507
My first thought was, who knew 20/20 was still on the air? I remember that thing as a 60 Minutes wannabe from when I was in grade school. Is Barbara Walters still alive?
My second thought was the journalism compared to those grade school days is much worse. I never thought I'd say it, but I have found the reason people who watch Fox News claim to be smarter than average. Hugh Downs is probably rolling in his grave if he's dead.
The piece seemed to pick on Walgreen's. Walgreen's gets picked on a lot, undoubtedly because they are the leader in the chain drug industry, but also because they suck. OK that wasn't fair. Not all Walgreen's suck, just the ones that are doing the amount of business that makes corporate happy while meeting their labor budget. If your local Walgreen's doesn't suck, trust me, there is someone in the district office on the manager's case as to why that is.
Also in fairness all the major chains aspire to suck, it's just that Walgreen's is much better at meeting it's goals. There are definitely, most certainly, stores in every major chain that are dangerously understaffed. I left my last job for precisely this reason. I have seen more than one pharmacy that I would NEVER let fill a prescription for my family unless I was the one who could fill it.
The problem, however, is not 17 year old drug clerks. Anyone who thinks you need six years of college to count to 30 and put some pills in a bottle can kiss my ass. Give me an adequate number of employees whose head is not up their ass, be they 17 or 60 years old, and I will have no problem getting your prescription safely to you. You see, the 17 year old does the count, pour, lick and stick stuff while I look over your records, make sure it's not going to kill you, check that the licking and sticking was done correctly, and make sure you realize the antibiotic suspension does not go directly into your child's ear even though you know that's where the infection is.
Key words in that paragraph: Give me an adequate number. Like I've said, I've seen more than one big corpo-pharmacy chain location that was dangerously understaffed.
So what's an average non-pharmacy schlep who just wants to have their prescription filled at a non-dangerously understaffed location to do? In a nutshell, look for the slowest pharmacy you can find. I don't mean the pharmacy that makes you wait 2 hours, I mean the pharmacy that does the fewest number of prescriptions. You may find it's one of the big chains, but I doubt it. Look in the yellow pages for a place where you say "I didn't realize there was a pharmacy there" If you didn't, most other people probably don't either, meaning a better chance of avoiding dangerously understaffed syndrome.
Try places where pharmacy isn't the main business. Grocery stores, mass merchants like Target, and warehouse clubs like Costco, chances are they are not as busy as your corpopharma-chain, and not under the same type of pressure to get your McPills out the door. Also take a look at your local independent drugstore. There are still some left, and the owner usually isn't dumb enough to staff his store at levels that would get him sued. Or you could come to me. Of course you don't know where I am. Oh well.
There also seems to be a big deal made about corpo-chains
Yes, it is mandated that a pharmacy offer to counsel you on your prescription when you pick it up. This is the most insignificant legal right you have. Where I work you can walk to a point right in front of me, about three feet away, and fire off any question or comment that comes into your little head. Anyone who thinks this changes the slightest when you sign something will have their profile checked for early Vicodin refills. I will also point out that anything I say to you in a "counselling" session will be covered in the 3 pages of written information you'll walk away from the counter with. Bottom line, don't ever put something in your body unless you know why and how. If you don't, fucking ask me. I won't check to see if you "waived your rights" before I answer.
Having said all this, I do wonder in an age of war and climate change, just exactly why ABC feels the best use of it's resources is to plant secret cameras in a Walgreens.....
Is Barbara Walters still alive?
